Cultural network initiatives in the context of Coronavirus Covid-19
Updated on 06/07/2020
In the current context of an international health crisis, the entire cultural network abroad is working to ensure the continuity of its services and missions. In particular, given the closure of many establishments, alternative solutions are being implemented every day to maintain the link with the public, offer educational continuity, and maintain actions related to cultural promotion, dissemination and cooperation.
With the aim of sharing the responses provided by the network more widely throughout the world, the Institut français proposes to list the initiatives developed to address this situation.
This first brief list will be completed quickly and regularly updated.
Multidisciplinary
The Alliance française in Singapore has a selection of online cultural offerings to help the general public get the most out of this period of confinement.
Offerings are grouped into six major themes: cinema, photography, performing arts, music, visual arts and literature.
Public
Languages available: French and English
The AF network in Australia has set up the hashtag #EnsembleEnLigne (#TogetherOnline) to share cultural and educational information on their social networks.
Public
Languages available: French and English
What's Next ? is a series of interviews with leading figures in the cultural and creative industries based in the United States, launched by the Cultural Services of the French Embassy.
What's Next ? offers to discover their vision of the crisis facing creative America.
Public
Available language : French
The Institut français of Latin America offers « IFAL en casa », a selection of cultural offerings in French and online, for all tastes and the whole family: conferences, concerts, theatre, interviews, dance, books etc.
Public
Languages available : French and Spanish
- Institut français in Mauritius
The Institut français in Mauritius has distinguished itself by offering its audiences a wide variety of initiatives in order to bring a little joy to daily life, now that things have been made more difficult by the current situation.
On the IF’s social networks, #ParLaFenêtre was launched to gather their selection of cultural content: in two months, 120 posts were published on their Facebook page.
This offered the opportunity to discover the « readers café » launched by the head of the IFM media library, which presents a selection of books.
The Institut français of Mauritius has launched its monthly artistic springboard Zapéro. The unmissable event to discover the emerging Mauritian scene in a 45-minute format, broadcast on social networks. A program carried by the IFM team, the artists and the Zapéros programming committee.
The popularity of this initiative has led them to consider continuing it beyond the period of health crisis, as well as to focus on increased use of digital resources and in particular their social networks, a real point of connection with their target audience.
Public
Available languages: French
The Institut français in Tripoli has asked young and old to send them a message of solidarity in French in a video format of one minute maximum, and has received an average of three videos per day since the announcement.
Public
Language available: French
Institut français in Tunisia: Des/confinés(De/Confined Ones)
The Institut français in Tunisia led by Sophie Renaud has launched a programme of interviews with personalities from both sides of the Mediterranean, presented by Maya Ksouri. The show is called Des/confinés, and is a 30-40 minute web TV programme.
Each week, three interviews are broadcast on the Institut français' social networks: every Wednesday at 15:30 on Facebook, and Thursday and Friday at 20:00 on YouTube and Twitter.
The programmes remain accessible online on the various allocated platforms.
You can already access the interviews of the acclaimed philosopher Youssef Seddik, writer Yasmina Khadraand President and CEO of France Médias Monde (FMM) Marie-Christine Zaragoza.
Discussions are conducted through Zoom.
Public
Language available: French
Find out more information about Institut français in Tunisia: Des/confinés (De/Confined Ones)
Cinema
The Alliance Française in Bangkok published a post on its Facebook page highlighting three offers: virtual tours of the Louvre and the Gallery des Glaces at the Château de Versailles, as well as the #CultureChezNous offer from the French government.
This targeted presentation of cultural offers garnered over 1,900 likes on Facebook.
Public
Language available: French
The Institut français in Algiers offers its favourites, in particular documentaries produced at the Ateliers documentaires du lab d’Alger (Algiers Lab Documentary Workshops) and free of charge for your audience.
Public
Language available: French
The director of the Institut français in Florence, Manon Hanseman highlights through their Youtube channel, the Comédie française's ongoing programming initiated by the Comédie française.
Public
Languages available: French and Italian
The Institut français in Morocco offers « Ciné-Moi », a series of educational and fun five-minute shorts for 6-12 year olds to explain cinema to them and inspire them to create.
Every Sunday, the Institut français in Morocco publishes a video from the series and invites these young viewers to create videos to be broadcast on the Institut's Facebook page.
Young audiences
Language available : French
L'heure du conte - Institut français in Casablanca
The Institut français in Casablanca offers daily programmes on its Facebook page. Every Wednesday, you can find a session entitled « L’heure du conte » (Tale time), featuring a storyteller’s tale and illustrations to accompany the work read.
Every Tuesday, the Institut français in Casablanca's Facebook page shares its documentary cinema favourites, with a special mention for Hip Hop/Influences : l’histoire du Hip Hop (Hip Hop/Influences: The History of Hip Hop) which has met with great success
And every Friday, you can find a note from the director of the Institut français in Casablanca, Martin Chénot ; an initiative to keep the Institut’s connection with its audience.
Public
Language available : French
Find out more information about the Institut français in Casablanca
The IFAL cinema in Mexico introduces its audience to French music through a playlist entitled SPOTIFAL. It also facilitates access to French animations on Netflix, just like the Institut français in Indonesia which also guides viewers with a daily recommendation of a French film on Netflix Indonesia - Divines, One + One, Budapest…
Public
Languages available : multilingual
The Institut français in Naples is running a fun social media campaign to highlight the need to respect confinement.
A theme is launched each week. Users must share a related photo and then the best photos are posted on the social networks of the Institut français in Naples.
It has been a very successful initiative.
Public
Languages available : French and Italian
The Director of the Institut français in Ouagadougou, Patrick Hauguel, used the results of the 2019 programme to analyse what has gone on in his cinema over the past year, enabling him to take stock of periods of intense activity (Fespaco and the European Film Festival) and quieter periods, in order to evaluate and adapt his offer to his audience.
Also, the home page of the Institut français in Ouagadougou website highlights cultural initiatives such as Culturethèque, Culturebox, the Short Film Festival etc.
Public
Language available: French
The Institut français of Tunisia offers an editorialised programme entitled « Gardons le fil » (Let's Keep the Thread), with three Facebook posts per day. Each week is devoted to a theme such as francophonie, childhood, culinary art and many others.
Public
Language available: French
MUBI offer
The Salle Elvire Popesco of the Institut français in Bucharest and the Ciné Lumière of the Institut français in London are joining the Mubi offer.
You can take advantage of three months of MUBI membership, free of charge : 30 carefully chosen films to watch or download. Every day one film is added to the catalogue, and another is removed.
From forgotten gems to new films straight out of festivals. From cult films to undisputed masterpieces...
Public
Languages available : multilingual
Public debate and Sciences
Organised by the Alliance française in Hyderabad in collaboration with the Institut français in India (IFI) and Campus France, Science Talks at the Alliance (STA) bring together Indian and French researchers, experts and practitioners.
They highlight past and contemporary Franco-Indian research in the widest variety of its practices to inspire youth by sharing accessible and quality knowledge with the widest audience.
Public
Language available: English
The Institut français in Iraq is launching the operation « Le jour d’après, le monde à l’issue du coronavirus » (« The day after, the world after coronavirus ») under the hashtag #lejourdapres and offers an exclusive video daily giving a personality a voice to share his or her vision of the future world.
Public
Languages available : French and Arabic
The research section of the Institut Français in South Africa, led by Africanist historian Sophie Dulucq, has launched a blog with contributions from African and French researchers to explore how social sciences have played a part in our joint reflection on the health crisis.
Public
Language available : English
Training
The Institut français in Togo is setting up a forum for managers in the Africa-Indian Ocean zone to discuss their professional skills and for the purposes of tours. The establishment of this forum follows on from the regional workshop « Fondamentaux de la régie générale dans le spectacle vivant » (« Fundamentals of general management in live performances ») organised by the Institut français from 15 September to 2 October 2019 in partnership with APMAC and the Francophonies - Des écritures à la scène festival.
The forum currently takes the form of an internet platform which may evolve in the future. Mr Wisdom Wilson, manager of the Institut français of Togo, is responsible for monitoring the project.
Language available : French
French language
The Alliance française in Lima has provided the Network with a Google drive to share its video communication kits.
Language available : Spanish
The Alliance française in Rosario has shared an Instagram Story kit with the Network via the online app Canva. Contents initially in Spanish but which can be adapted in any language.
Language available : Spanish
The French language department of the Institut français in Paris offers a playlist on its YouTube channel entitled « COVID-19 and FLE, our solutions for our establishments » which compiles the various responses provided by our colleagues around the world and some establishments in the cultural network abroad in order to deal with the current situation.
It brings together solutions and initiatives to overcome this situation and maintain educational continuity despite this difficult situation, in particular through the presentation of digital tools that facilitate distance learning.
#masolutionpourmonAF #masolutionpourmonIF #CoronaFLE
Public
Language available: French
Since the beginning of the health crisis caused by the COVID_19 pandemic, the Institut français has on a weekly basis offered to pool the responses provided by the Instituts français, Alliances françaises and colleagues in educational and linguistic cooperation in the face of the exceptional situation experienced by a large part of the network, and thus maintain educational, social and cultural continuity.
Public
Language available: French
RFI and TV5Monde offer a new educational module for teachers.
Find the module « Utiliser les médias en classe avec RFI et TV5Monde » (« Using media in class with RFI and TV5Monde ») online free of charge on CIEP+.
Teachers
Language available: French
KIT FRANÇAIS application by CASNAV – Besançon Academy
The CASNAV in Besançon has launched a French as a foreign language/French as a second language resource application for allophone students in France. The resources can also be useful for French as a foreign language/French as a second language learners in other contexts.
The app, called Kit-Français, aims to keep them connected to learning French during this period of confinement. It is especially aimed at students who do not have access to a computer and who may find it difficult to access support in their learning.
Public
Language available : French
Find out more information about KIT FRANÇAIS application by CASNAV – Besançon Academy
Music
The IF in Romania offers FrenchMania online, an online performance competition for which participants must record themselves singing a French song from the last 10 years!
Accessible from 23 April to 22 June
Public
Languages available : French and Romanian
Health
To respond to the needs of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) in terms of medical equipment to combat COVID-19, the Bukavu branch of the Institut français in DRC is working to manufacture protective visors using 3D printing : a cooperation initiative welcomed by Doctor Mukwege.
Public
Language available : French